Reaffirming its dedication to driving transformative actions for national development within the global arena, Isabela State University (ISU) played a pivotal role in spearheading the Japan-Philippines Nexus Program on Water Security Inception Workshop and Ministerial Level Meeting held on March 12, 2025, at the Disaster Prevention Research Center (DPRI), Kyoto University, Gokasho, Uji City, Kyoto, Japan. The Nexus Program is a collaborative project between Kyoto University, Japan, with Prof. Sameh Ahmed Kantoush, International Organization on Climate Change Adaptation and Disaster Risk Reduction Management Inc. (IO-CCA-DRRM) President, as Principal Investigator (PI); and Isabela State University, Philippines, spearheaded by Prof. Jeoffrey Lloyd R. Bareng, University Director for Research and Development, as Project Leader (PL), with the support of Prof. Ricmar P. Aquino, ISU President, and Prof. Orlando F. Balderama, Vice President for Research and Development, Extension and Training. This R&D project aims to develop innovative technologies through synergistic research approaches toward sustainable water resources management and reservoir dam operations, considering extreme climate variability.

 

As this R&D project takes shape through the strengthening of the academe-government-industry network and bilateral cooperation with international partners, various Philippine and Japanese dignitaries participated in the aforementioned inception workshop and ministerial meeting. Among the attendees were Hon. Mylene J. Garcia-Albano, Ambassador of the Republic of the Philippines to Japan and representative of the Governor of the Province of Isabela and Chair of the Cagayan River Basin Management Council; Hon. Marita R. Canapi, Commission on Higher Education Commissioner; Ms. Kaori Yamada, Chief of Japan Science and Technology Agency; executives from the Japan Water Agency; directors from the Department of Agriculture; top officials of SN Aboitiz Power, IHI Construction Service Co., Ltd., and Pacific Consultants Co. Ltd as industry partners; and administrators from the National Irrigation Administration.

 

As the R&D arm behind numerous scientific contributions, the University President and high-ranking officials from ISU and Kyoto University as pioneers of Philippine-Japan collaboration on Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM), along with the institutional leaders from Ryukoku University in Japan, Romblon State University (RSU), Bulacan State University (BulSU), University of Science and Technology of Southern Philippines (USTP), and Mountain Province State University (MPSU) also joined the aforesaid multipartite convergence.

 

At the initial phase of the inception workshop, the attendees participated in a field tour at Lake Biwa, the largest lake in Japan, as part of the International Lake Environment Committee Foundation (ILEC) Orientation. Prof. Masahisa Nakamura, Vice President of ILEC, former Professor by Special Appointment at the Research Center for Sustainability and Environment at Shiga University, and former Director of the Lake Biwa Research Institute, discussed the lake’s organizational management from its history to the present. He also elaborated on flood management approaches, water conservation, ILEC mission and strategies, problems of the world’s lakes, and organization activities to promote water resource sustainability. During the field tour, the delegates also visited the Biwa Lake Museum and the site of the Seta River Weir (the lake’s main outlet).

 

With this information exchange among the workshop participants, the ILEC Foundation signified its full commitment to cooperate and collaborate with ISU along with its partner institutions such as RSU, BulSU, USTP, and MPSU as worldwide counterparts from the academic sector engaged in the conservation of inland waters. With this imminent partnership with another international agency, ISU, along with its academic and research collaborators, remains at the forefront of driving continuous innovations and knowledge exchange to advance R&D-based solutions for the sustainable management of the Cagayan River Basin while extending its expertise to other Philippine river basins.